Currently, there is no official statistics on the number of Ukrainians returning to temporarily occupied territories. This was reported by People's Deputy Ruslan Gorbenko during a broadcast on Novyny.Live.
He noted that mainly Ukrainians are returning to these territories due to the threat of nationalization of their property by Russia, a reason that was mentioned during a meeting with representatives from the President's Office.
"Without obtaining a document with a two-headed eagle, they won't be able to register their property. Therefore, the primary reason is to save their assets," he emphasized.
At the same time, the deputy pointed out that only women are returning, highlighting that even the President's Office did not provide statistics because "it simply does not exist."
"However, in the cases where men return, examples have shown that they are detained and placed under zombie quarantine, and then... forced to fight," Gorbenko explained.
Ukrainians Returning to Occupied Territories - News
As reported by UNIAN, earlier, MP Maksym Tkachenkо stated in an interview that about 150,000 Ukrainians have already returned to the Russian-occupied territories after previously fleeing. Specifically, out of 200,000 Mariupol residents who left the city, according to his data, up to 70,000 have returned. He cited insufficient support for refugees from the Ukrainian government as one of the reasons. However, later Tkachenkо retracted his statement, claiming that this information was his own "unsubstantiated and emotional assumption" and emphasizing that there is no verified overall statistics.
The advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andriushchenko, confirmed this information, although he provided more modest figures: up to 40,000 people have returned to the city. According to him, some of these individuals simply wanted to sell their surviving property "according to Russian laws," and then return to Ukraine or Europe with the money.